4)Fat free, sugar free, 99% fat free, lite, light, low fat, gluten free, paleo and other words they use on packaging are often used to distract you from something else. Treat them as warning signs – read the ingredients. Maybe it’s low fat and high sugar, or fat free, sugar free and full of aspartame / acesuflame K / fructose.

This brand have gone for an all out lie, see if you can spot the inconsistency:

Ingredients: LACTOSE, DEXTROSE, and finally Stevia (1%)

Artisan or Artisanal is the latest word that is being used and destroyed by marketers.

Fit, 0% Fat, Sugar and a ‘sexy’ lady on…. a LOAF OF BREAD! LOL?

N.B some brands that use those words on their packaging are highly ethical and high quality foods. Addictive Wellness for example are one of the highest ethics brands I know and they use sugar free, dairy free, gluten free. This is why the people driving the brands are once again becoming the important factor. I know that if Sage or Anna-Blanca (of Addictive wellness) bring out another product it will be of the highest integrity.

5) 77% of all percentage statistics are often meaningless. Literally utter nonsense ;)… My internal dialogue to statements such as ‘95% of people on this diet lose 10% body fat in 6 weeks’ “Cool? that’s interesting… I don’t even wonder what the actual results were because percentage statistics interest me not at all”

6) Comparing yourself to cover models, social media models, competing cross fitters or anyone else for that matter is a lost cause. They are not you. Your constitution, lifestyle, goals, thoughts and desires are completely different. Besides, many of these physiques (along side hard training) are the result growth hormone, steroids, or Photoshop.

7) Eat more fat, and less sugar. Fat from the right sources of course; grass fed meats, ghee, coconut oil, extra V olive oil, avocado, some oil supplements, high quality cacao, dulce seaweed, chontaduro (South America) to name but a few.

8) Learn how to make PROPER SMOOTHIES and BLENDS and get a decent blender.

9) Remove your allergens. Figure out what foods you are eating that you are having a bad reaction. I.e your allergens and stop eating them. Do this by eliminating the common suspects: soy, lactose, wheat, corn, tree nuts, eggs, dairy then adding the ones you REALLY want to eat after 4 weeks without them.

10) Alternative medicine.Traditional Chinese medicine has been developing for 1000’s of years. The highly effective medical system takes Hippocrates ‘let food be thy medicine’ f statement literally and is widely available in developed countries now. They look at the person’s food and lifestyle (often the root of illness) and make changes there rather than masking it with pharmaceutical prescription drugs.

11) Rich, think twice before getting all of those vaccinations for your travels later in life. Find an alternative, question the ingredients, or take alternative trip.

12) Instead of running for 1+ hours 5 times per week, there is a more effective way to burn fat and create the physique you want. Lifting weights and doing HIIT high intensity interval training will helpo increase testosterone which will help build muscle and burn fat. And remember to change it up every 6 weeks or so to keep your training effective.

13) Giveaway / destroy all of the cans of fizzy pop (soda) in the house, you and your mum don’t need them. She will quit later in life anyway when you become a fitness professional and advise here.

14) Quality over eating anything. We are so privileged in our lives to have the choice of grain fed vs. grass fed, organic over non-organic, we don’t have to eat GMO foods, we can choose the higher quality. Choose fasting over eating the artificial / highly processed / tortured animal alternative.

15) Keep drumming, but also add some silent meditation in there. Like practicing scales on a musical instrument, rudiments on the drums or technique in any sport, will help you in the real the real performance later, silent meditation is like practicing not to react to stressful situations in the future.

16) Your body is made of cells, inside the cells are molecules, inside the molecules are atoms and inside the atom… WOAH! Let me tell you, it’s just ever changing energy. You are made of every changing energy. And guess what? So is everyone and everything else………

This is NOT a bunch of dumb dieting health tips for Christmas & 2016

These health tips can be used any time, any day, any month, any year.

But, the thing with this list, as with ALL health advice – IT DEPENDS.

Found the latest fat burning health food? That’s interesting… but I don’t really care and neither should you because IT DEPENDS. Your mate just told you about the ketogenic diet or they stopped eating potato skins and their fingernails doubled in strength? That’s interesting too, but I don’t really care about that either and neither should you because IT DEPENDS.

You are different.

You are a unique expression of a human being and their diet or superfood might just be your kryptonite, or not, it depends. Get the picture 🙂 ? Your lifestyle, family, friends, city, mountain, village, sleep pattern, the season, your constitution and a billion other things… all make your answer to all general health advice – “well, that depends, surely?”

Ready for it? (Remember this list also DEPENDS).

Health Tip 1) Intermittent fasting (I.F)?

Just like gravity always did and probably always will – I.F still works. It works because fasting is not some dumb dieting trick – it’s a normal thing for humans to do – not eating for a period of time is OK. Thousands of years ago, even 50 to 100 years ago, food was not ALWAYS around and available and snacking (one of the dumbest things to do if you’re looking to burn fat) wasn’t really done.

The reason intermittent fasting is worth playing with this holiday (DEPENDING) is because it gives your organs a few extra hours to deal with nasty foods it has to clean out. The time not eating also helps promote health hormonal balance in your body.

The basic principle of IFing is don’t eat for 16 hours of the 24 in a day. Easy right? Then if you want to supercharge it – make your first meal high-ish in protein. Click here for a really long and detailed post about it.

Health Tip 2) Bicarbonate of Soda / Sodium Bicarbonate

(with lemon for antioxidants) is a quick fix for acid reflux. Really that shit is a literally saving lives. Don’t tolerate acid after indulgence – fix it. If the acid goes on for more than a day or so it’s worth checking in with your doc or ‘checking in’ with your thinking and food – something is not agreeing with you. The reason for doing it yourself is because commercial anti-acids are often full of unnecessary added ingredients.

It’s not my recipe but some say 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda + 1/2 glass of water is the way forward. (The ‘Home Remedies’ link at the bottom of this page has a nice list of ways to use it).

PS. If you don’t get acid reflux someone by you probably does so pass the tip on, you will make someones day!! Literally transforming their week!

PPS. This is just a short term fix,not a long term health strategy. See your doctor, TCM doctor or health practitioner.

PPPS. Getting more alkaline foods in your mouth, giving yourself a good 3 hours between your last meal and sleep could be your longer term strategy for sorting acid reflux. If the problem persists see your doctor.

Health Tip 3) Meditate or find something to do on your own.

(without mixing your ‘energy’ with anyone else).

I like to drink a tea, practice drumming or stick patterns, train, walk, or a vipassana style meditation. Lovely…

This will give you a minute to settle your mind and to help you not react to family pressures.

By giving yourself a few minutes on your own, 15+ mins is good, you can find space in your mind and energy to give compassion to whoever or whatever it is that’s annoying you. The deeper level of pain, confrontation, anger, annoyance within a family setting is a deeper unconscious pain that ‘wants’ to come to the surface. The goal is to not react. Go to you tube and check out Eckhart Tolle’s ‘Pain Body’ for more on that. It’s a life enhancing perspective/metaphor.

Health Tip 4) Aim for more nutrients per calorie.

BORING right… and it works. But this also depends.

If you’re still counting calories please give release yourself of that boring pointless restrictive way of eating. Find a way to tune in to how you feel. There is this magical feeling when you let go of all that head work around food and actually get in touch with how it feels to be eating right for your body.

The first step here is to know that a calorie doesn’t equal a calorie – i.e 200 calories of sausage on a stick probably has more nutrients than 200 calories of ‘chocolate mouse light’. The mouse light is probably full of artificial sweeteners BUT the sausage probably came from a pig that was pumped full of hormones and plumped up on GMO feed. My advice there is buy at least organic and grassfed, avoid the word ‘light’ at all costs and if you’re not into eating animals then make sure your vegan way of eating is giving you the nutrients you need too because there are plenty of pointless vegan foods out there 😉

Blending vegetables into a smoothie is an awesome way to get more nutrients in there, especially because you get to keep the fiber!

Health Tip 5) You don’t have to eat shitty food.

It’s OK to say no. Just because your family (yes that includes your partner) or friends are smashing a load of cookies and ice cream riddled with artificial nonsense doesn’t mean you have to. They have their knowledge, wisdom and feeling with food and alcohol and they will be acting from where they are. Remember it depends. Maybe their body is more adept at digesting that food or booze, maybe they had a MASSIVE workout that day and their body is burning like a steam engine, or maybe they just don’t care that much.

By all means, get involved, give yourself the freedom to eat anything and everything you desire and without the guilt trip because ‘Mind over matter’ is more powerful than you can imagine. If you do, the next day can probably be helped by intermittent fasting and baking soda the next day can help your body clear out the junk.

A thought on this mind over matter business… I remember seeing a documentary on centenerians. They were looking at their health, lifestyle, food, habits and seeing if they could draw any conclusions to reasons for their longevity. There was a Scottish guy at the end who really struck a chord with me. He was the mechanic in the village, the only mechanic – he helped everyone. He also chain smoked cigarettes and drank alcohol every day… He was living well! But how!? He was loving life, and everyone in the community needed him to be alive. “They just wont let me die…” were the words that closed the documentary. Food for though right? Thinking about the placebo and nocebo effect (the mind healing or harming an individual) this guy had nailed it. BUT I suspect that if he nourished his physicla body with local, organic foods he might just be the first human to levitate!

Health Tip 6) Fat – it’s OK to eat it. You know that right?

And this depends too – mainly on how it’s cooked and the source. But really, you know fat is OK already right? Sugar, processed foods, stress, a job/life you hate, is probably what’s messing with you the most – both body and mind. Zoe Harcombe nails the fat myth here… Oh noooo but what about cholesterol…. read this by Zoe Harcombe.

Remember how Time Magazine fucked things up a few years back…?

(The cover photo on the left in 1984 was the wrong, misguided perhaps part of an Astroturfing strategy to sell cholesterol medication. The cover on the right in 2014 was their revised message)

When it comes to getting the health benefits of eating fat make sure you get the quality and how/if it is cooked right.

7) You are already AWESOME and do not need a diet plan.

People often think they need to burn fat to become healthy when the opposite is true and feels a millions times better: be healthy both in your body and mind and understand your body’s true needs the fat will drop off…

Thank you for reading this, I assume that at least one of the words on this page has meant something to you.

Why bother sharing this information?

The reason I write these blog posts is because I want more and more people to get this kind of information… as many as possible. The more high quality, well researched, unbiased and exploratory information on food and health the better.

The stages of truth in health are very real – why wait until science ‘proves’ something when it has been practiced in real life, without sponsors, for many years.

Too much of the readily available health information is strategically controlled through ‘Astroturfing’, the script is written, all the way from the pharmaceutical industry (who continue to shoot themselves in the foot) to the newspapers (don’t ), the to nestle, herbalife, and most of the other There is plenty of info like this out there but I guess you’re reading this one. can be disseminated (nice word right?) that will very soon lead to an un-biased maybe silent investor/sponsor. Some corporations seem to be very slowly turning their ways around, other ethical companies are popping up all around now, Castle Rock in California are transforming the bottled water industry, Addictive Wellness are nailing it with their chocolate, LivingTea.net are sharing the World’s cleanest tea, the Wellbeingnow Seminar in the UK is bringing together people with powerful messages and Mcroaid International are just awesome They’re not paying me to mention them, they deserve it…

Related articles:

Still confused about GMO? Watch this the video at the bottom of this post…

This video is featuring the awesome Castle Rock Water, and see if you can see how deep the messages go…

Castle Rock Water are on a great mission. For so many reasons, not just their contribution to and collaboration with the community of Dunsmuir where the water caves are but also what they stand for – using glass bottles, providing water from a source so pure and nourishing (water is not just water).

Like when people buy organic foods and choose local produce or dine at restaurants supporting local farms, by choosing water from glass bottles you’re helping yourself (not ingesting the plastic) and the environment.

The mountain where this water comes from is a magical place. Yeah I guess that could sound a little bit hippie but if you ever get the chance to visit Mount Shasta you will know why…

This interview with Castle Rock Water @CastleRockWater at Expo West and at their plant near Mount Shasta was a nourishing one!! I love these guys, their messages and everything they are standing for.

Castle Rock Water is one of the Worlds best water. They even won an award for it in 2014. But their mission and message is wider and deeper than this…. watch the video now if you’re yet to do so… get in!

Oh, and, we are not saying to start shipping this water all around the World, simply if you’re fortunate enough to be in this area to try it. And wherever you are in the World to choose a water source that is clean and nourishing for your body and mind and that is supporting the local community rather than depleting.

This is a nice preview of the 2015 interview with David Wolfe – I wonder if he likes Castle rock Water?

So, resolutions… Really? You’re still making these? Well, I guess there COULD be merit in it but before you consider making a new years resolution have a quick think back to your last to see if that list of stuff you wanted to change is actually any different? And, read on…

Lazy to read all of this post then know this:

– Restricting yourself from something can create a head full of traps. Move towards what you want..

– Ignore the Social Media New Years Resolution hype because you might ‘inherit’ someone else’s problems. Do your thing. If you want to, focus on upgrading the already awesome you…

– When it comes to food, the restriction plan has proven itself useless, even problematic (…decades of fad dieting) time and time again. ‘Move towards nutrient dense foods’ is a full proof basic strategy. With that fine tune your nutrient dense food selection based on how you react to it (energy levels, skin, hair and moods are some of the feedback systems to ‘listen to’).

– Tune in to, respect, and listen to your environment. That is everything in your life. It is speaking to you, you are speaking with it, it affects you and you affect it. I invite you to tune in.

– Restricting others. What!? Yeah, that’s right… Something that any food blogger, nutritionist, trainer, or any human really should consider; is where am I projecting (putting) my own beliefs and restrictions on others. And then considering how offer learnings without inflicting them…

THIS NEXT ONE IS A BEAUTY!!!
– What action does the person you want to become already do? Just do it. By doing the thing that the person you want to become does you instantly become the person you want to become. You’re one and the same. Do it. You ca rinse and repeat this one for a while because it will always apply.

Back to RESTRICTION…
The second you say (or even think) ‘I can’t eat this or that’ you put a trap in your mind. The 7 year old in you rebels with a force stronger than the bowl movements of a lactose intolerant drinking pasteurized fat-free milk (which should be avoided at all costs by the way).Health should NOT be about mind traps and restriction.
(That’s what our childhood was for, right!?)

Youcan flip it…

Check this example:

Imagine person A wants to lose some weight. They begin the year with a list of all the foods they’re not going to eat. No chocolate, no cake, no fish and chips, no bread, no pasta, no carbs, no sugar…
Now imagine person B takes a different approach. Instead of depriving, taking things away they choose to add green vegetables to their meals, upgrade from grain fed beef to grass fed beef, to eat eggs from free range organic chickens, or to add a green smoothie, or to add 10 minutes to their dog walking, even to find time to go for a walk or even begin some kind of sport or training.

Person B is moving towards nutrient dense foods, saying yes to life (yeah i know it might sound hippie but as you will see in my videos the hippie category so created by man, is absolutely bang on right with most things life). Person B is nourishing their mind, body and energy. Creating something in their life that they can then freely and happily share with others.

All change…

Now, with aaaaaaaaaaall of that said…

If you are still hell-bent on making a resolution based on dieting this year, have a read of this so you jump the first hurdle:

Heard someone (maybe you) say this before?

“OH, yeah dude, I know how to lose fat, just train more and eat less…” WRONG (well that depends too really because you will probably lose a bit in the first couple of days BUT know that the ‘eat less, train more’ is severely flawed and almost certainly not sustainable for you and will almost certainly wreak havoc on your hormones doing unnecessary damage)

Train more, eat less is a bit like the finding that smoking cigarettes can temporarily increase your lung capacity, very short term gain for medium to long term damage).Calories in Calories out? That’s what ‘train more eat less’ is based on really, so yep, calories in calories out is severely flawed too.

– Sprints (or HIIT) before a protein dominant breakfast is a basic rule of thumb that many experts (including me) use on themselves and with clients.

– Squats. Deep, satisfying squats. Get them in your life for fat burning, strength building, feeling awesome and mobility.

Give yourself freedom from restriction in 2015

So, if you’re going to set yourself any kind of ‘goal’ for 2015 give yourself freedom from restriction. Taking a 180 degree view of your approach to food and health.

Give yourself the gift of moving towards nutrient dense foods while increasing your awareness on how your eating and buying decisions impact you and the environment around you. That is a deeper way to nourish yourself.

Simple when you feel the shift.

THIS REALLY HELPS: If you like this, click like at the top and on Rich Eats FaceBook to stay in touch because I will be posting much more regularly to motivate the awesomeness out of you!

Butt butt butt butt butt! This interview with Jules has so much more than just that, BUT following this interview I’ve been doing the exercises she recommends and they are AWESOME!

Combine a great love for glutes (and their development), great white sharks, ‘eating clean’, doing what you love for a living and sunny Santa Monica and we’ve got Jules!

I selected this young lady as a ‘subject for question’ having seen her working with clients at Iron Fitness in Santa Monica. We chatted for a few seconds and bam! I knew I had to interview her… Get involved with this video if you’re looking for info on getting off a plateau with your training, bum / butt exercises, training philosophy and a load of smiles:

Jules is a PT (Personal Trainer, Entrenador Personal) at Iron Fitness, Santa Monica, Los Angeles, California. Her passion, drive, love for training and sharing this knowledge is second to nadie (no-one).

(I’m throwing in the Spanish today because I just got back from doing some research in Colombia – they still think Soy is healthy! OMG.)

The back of the legs and butt are some of the hardest areas of the body to hit. Hip thrusters are one of the best butt exercises around, actually according to that study that university of Pheonix Hip thrusters ARE the best butt and leg exercise.

I raided the goody box at Fuerza CrossFit in Medellin, found some interesting toys! This weighted training vest is one of them..

I’m pretty impressed by the weight vest, it definitely ups your conditioning and will also burn more fat while your training. If you’re just getting into training forget about this thing – it will just annoy you.

Fuerza is one of the best training facilities I’ve had the privilege of attending and they’re an awesome CrossFit team too (big shout out to all of you there, missing the awesomely insane training with you! See you guys soon!!

Thank you 2012, you were beautiful. Bring on 2013 for more and increased awesomeness.

You’ve probably already thought of a millions things to focus on, develop, enhance or change in 2013. Well, here are 12 tips. The first one is going to help you stick to your new year’s resolution, the other 11 are inspiring ideas to enhance your training and eating experience.

1) New Years resolution.

Making a Change? So it turns out that making a declaration on it’s own doesn’t actually work. The plans you make for the change is the key. What plans do you need to make? According to the awesome Jade Teta from Metabolic Effect these are the 5 key things:

1. Understand how your brain works. Humans are not very good multitasks. The more you do, the more confused you become and in this confused state you default back to old behavior. One thing at a time is key.

2. Bringing in bit of Jim Rohn, the Brain needs a strong why? Why change? Why spend more time with your family? Why earn more money? Why travel more? Why is the energy, the fuel behind the change. write down why you are doing it.

3. What are you going to do? If you want to gain some muscle and lose some fat, what are you going to do? Hire a Personal trainer? Join a bootcamp? Re-start a sport you used to love but got too busy to play? Martial arts (fitness, fat loss and learning a form of defense and increased confidence). What are you going to do?

4. When are you going to do it? When do you start? Now is always a good time. But really, when is now a good time? 1st January? Set a date and commit to it. And, more specifically, when are you going to go (continual)

5. How is it going to happen?

This is about obstacles. Predicting then clearing and overcoming obstacles. Let’s take training as the example, because it’s very relevant. By training session number 3 you might be aching and need to slightly alter your workout. Know that you are going to be aching and that you can find something to train that doesn’t ache. (if the pain is severe see your trainer then your doctor if necessary).

Plan in your diary, like an appointment when you are going to train and keep that appointment with yourself. Pack your training gear the night before and put it by your keys. Buy extra training gear and leave it in the office or in your car so you always have it. And remember the first few minutes of training often the toughest.

2) Do what you love.

Whatever your goal there is a way to burn fat, gain fat, gain muscle, increase your VO2 max, tighten your abs, increase your ‘booty’ size, trim your waist… that you will enjoy. If you currently do not enjoy your training then look beyond your gym, even if it is a different gym.

3) You are so sweet (and it’s making me fat).

Refined sugar and sugar in it’s altered states is an ingredient that will not help you loose fat. And, it will not give you long term stable energy levels. Become aware of your refined sugar intake.

4) Understand the label.

If you don’t understand the words on the label do not put it in your mouth… (Seek first to understand). Would you blindly pick one of the petrol (gas) pumps and start filling your car? Ha! Probably not unless you were loco. Would you grab any cologne/perfume from the shop and buy and use it without knowing the smell? Probably not! (ingredients on body products I’m saving for another time… oh yes there is a world of wildness we daily rub into your body too). Pick up, sign a contract for and use a random phone or computer you’ve not actually looked into – Probably not!

Grab something that looks like food/liquid, something that we are told is food and eat it? Most people do this every day! Wild, wild times!

3b) Where does the key ingredient sit in the ingredients list? If it is chocolate for example you should be looking for ‘Cacao’ to be as high up in the list as possible and for there to be as few other ingredients as possible.

5) Ignore those voices.

(for now, I don’t mean the ones in your head) I mean the voices of those people around that project their own ‘situation’ on to your life. They don’t know you. I don’t know you. You know you (for the most part). Find out the reality of your situation and your own goals for health and fitness and find out how to do it. ‘”e become the average of the 5 people we spend the most time with” – Jim Rohn. Learn to selectively ignore opinions and people. And, likewise, learn to surround yourself with the people who are best for your life actualization.

6) Get tested.

Yes that kind of tested and… If you think you might be overweight and eating too much sugar, go and get your blood tested for diabetes. It’s OK, just go an do it and then take the next step from there.

7) Go Caveman.

Relatively speaking grains, wheat, gluten & legumes were only recently introduced into our diets. And it turns out they are not conducive to a creating healthy human being. There are proteins in those food that wreak havoc on our digestive system. Take a month off and see how you feel. (Thanks Robb Wolf and Dr. Loren Cordain)

8) Fart lots?

Maybe it’s time to test your tolerance to lactose. Take 21 days off and see how your digestion, farting and energy levels change… when you take it out of your diet remember you will need to replace it with something like lots of green veg (for calcium) and eggs for breakfast (yes the whole egg). Don’t fart much? It’s a great test to do anyway to see how and if your energy levels increase. Especially if you are reading this from the USA, your milk and dairy products are perhaps the most processed and highest in sugar the world has ever seen.

9) Added sugar? Put it back!

Really. Ingredients with the letters ‘ose’ at the end are a type sugar (dextrose, lactose, fructose, sucrose, high fructose corn syrup, amongst others). This means that they will release energy very quickly and, generally speaking, if not used through training or in other ways they will be stored as fat. The other issues are that the sugars are often man-made and hence even more detrimental to our health. Our mental and physical health can take a serious battering when we eat those sugars listed above. (Artificial sweeteners are not the answer either! It’s a given that we avoid them). If you have a sweet tooth go for something like raw organic honey which actually has some nutrients, though is still not advisable as part of a fat loss program.

10) Life – for best results live without gluten.

Challenge yourself? Try it for a month and tell me how you feel… then continue…

11) A long list?

How long is the ingredient list? In a packet and contains more than 5 or 6 ingredients? Then it is probably not worth eating.

12) Taste it.

Some of us drink it every day without any respect for the actual taste, merely focusing on the fact that it wakes your face up and make getting on with the day tolerable. The taste of your tea or coffee is DIRECTLY influenced by the quality of the water used. That means if you’re in London or LA and getting tea or coffee from a high street chain store you are probably getting a low quality water high in fluoride and other chemicals. When I steep tea I always use bottled or filtered water. It makes a huge difference.

12b) Different temperatures for different teas.

Different teas need different steeping temperatures and times. Fact. Imagine taking a pice of bread (not that we would right!?) and putting it in a toaster on full power, then when it pops we put it in again, and again and again. How do you think it is going to taste? Pretty bad. Same thing with tea. Green teas for example need a water temperature from between 50C and 90C (celsius). so when your high street chain cafe bar tortures your tea back in boiling water you are effectively getting ‘burnt toast’.

Thank you 2012, you were beautiful. Bring on 2013 for more and increased awesomeness.